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Germany's Scholz says 'consensus' with Zelensky that Western arms do not hit Russia

AFP/The Local
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
Germany's Scholz says 'consensus' with Zelensky that Western arms do not hit Russia
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks next to a Leopard 2 battle tank of the German armed forces as he visited troops during a training exercise in northern Germany in October 2022. Photo: Ronny Hartmann / AFP

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky agrees that weapons supplied by the West will not be used to attack Russian territory, Germany's leader said in an interview Sunday.

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"There is a consensus on this point," Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in an interview with the weekly Bild am Sonntag.

Ukraine's Western allies have pledged to arm it with precision rockets and missile systems, as well as tanks, as it tries to push back Russian troops in its east.

READ ALSO: Germany authorises manufacturers to send Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has compared the intervention of countries such as Germany with his nation's struggle during World War II.

"Again and again we are forced to repel the aggression of the collective West," he said Thursday on the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad.

But Scholz rejected the comparison.

"His words are part of a series of absurd historical comparisons that he uses to justify his attack on Ukraine", he said.

"But nothing justifies this war.

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"Together with our allies, we are supplying battle tanks to Ukraine so that it can defend itself. We have carefully weighed each delivery of weapons, in close coordination with our allies, starting with America."

He said that such a consensus-based approach "avoids an escalation".

READ ALSO: Germany won't send fighter jets to Ukraine, says Scholz

 

 

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